Iraqi Kurdish Authority Gifts Part of Kurdistan to PJAK Terrorist Group

Service : Politic

TEHRAN, July 11 (ICANA) – Authorities of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have granted 300,000 hectares of land to an armed opposition of the Islamic Republic in a bid to help the group set up a new headquarters and training camp and organize and intensify its terrorist operations against Iran, sources disclosed on Monday.

Monday, July 11, 2011 9:09:45 PM

A report by the information center of the general staff of the Iranian Armed Forces quoted an informed source as saying that the field has been gifted to the terrorist PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) group, FNA reported.

The report did not reveal identity of the source, but said that he is a high-ranking official in the Iranian government.

The official added that the move by the KRG authorities, its President Massoud Barzani in particular, was a treacherous act against the Iranian and Iraqi people since it has been done in collaboration with the US and without the knowledge of Iraq's central government.

The official added that the move "has granted PJAK a free hand to blackmail the Iraqi people" as it can now rule the territory.

According to the report, the source further asked Baghdad to send a high-ranking military delegation to the region to probe into the case.

Meantime, the Iranian official underlined that Tehran will not allow terrorists to set up a den on Iraq's land through the US and the Zionists' support.

The official further reiterated that Iran reserves the right for itself to act against the terrorist group and pound at its positions in border areas.

PJAK, a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of Northern Iraq, has been carrying out numerous attacks in Western Iran, Southern Turkey and the Northeastern parts of Syria where the Kurdish populations live.

The separatist group has been fighting to establish an autonomous state, or possibly a new world country, in the area after separating Kurdish regions from Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

The outlawed group has been staging attacks across the border in Iran since 2004 in an attempt to establish an independent Kurdish state.

Iranian intelligence and security officials have repeatedly accused Washington of providing military support and logistical aids for such anti-Iran terrorist groups.

An April 10, 2006 report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were establishing contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups in Iran such as the PJAK rebels.

Later in November 2006 Hersh wrote that, "Israel and the United States have also been working together in support of a Kurdish opposition group known as the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan.

"The group has been conducting clandestine cross-border forays into Iran," Hersh added.

According to Hersh, Israel has been providing the Kurdish group with "equipment and training." The group has also been given "a list of targets inside Iran of interest to the US".